Broken
by LadyCara
Summary: After WWIII, the Doctor and Rose land on the supposedly peaceful planet Verolis when the Doctor is abducted and slowly driven insane. Will Rose be able to free him and bring him back from the brink of madness? Rated M because of elements of torture...
1. Chapter 1

Written for Lillibetm3's Jiggery-Pokery... is love ficaton on LJ.

There will be some torture in this chapter. It's not very explicit but please heed the warning.

* * *

**Chapter One**

Hoarse screams echoed through the room and were reflected by white walls. Behind a two-way mirror a humanoid figure watched the tall man on the bed. His hands and feet were immobilized by padded cuffs and a likewise padded belt fixed his torso. Electrodes were attached to his head and chest and an IV drip to his arm.

"Increase intensity." At the murmured order a technician seated in front of a large console turned a dial and the screams became louder and more erratic. After another two minutes of constant screaming the observer eventually said, "Enough."

The technician flipped a lever and the screams slowly diminished, along with the muscle contractions that had accompanied the treatment. Then he pressed a button and the IV drip began to release its contents into the patient's system. Seven long minutes later the patient fell into a fitful sleep.

"Wake him."

The technician pressed a button and the figure on the bed vellicated convulsively when electricity ran through his body. With a strangled gasp the man awoke, a single tear slowly running down his rectangular cheekbone and then following the curve of his jaw. When he tried to raise his hand to wipe the tear away he discovered that he was restrained. He gasped again when the belt around his torso rubbed against one of the areas the electrodes were attached. It seemed the skin reacted to the electricity like it did with humans, only slower.

"Is there anybody? Where am I?" he asked in a shaky voice. He paused and added almost as an afterthought, nearly in a whisper, as if his voice would break if he spoke louder, "Who am I?"

"Breakthrough. Commence stage two."

_Despite his outward appearance the subject isn't human. We haven't found out yet what species he is but none of us has ever seen a binary vascular system before. He showed remarkable resilience against the usual chemicals. He is able to metabolize them much faster than anyone would have predicted. To get any results we had to increase the normal dosage tenfold. After two hours the chemicals eventually made an impact and in combination with electroshocks we managed to break his surprisingly strong mind blocks and now can begin with the indoctrination._

The scientist closed his case report and walked over to the mirror to observe the man. He was sitting on the bed, still cuffed, but the restraint around his torso had been removed. He was rocking back and forth, his arms slung around his knees, apparently unaware of his surroundings, not even noticing the agonizingly bright light that was reflected from every plain surface in the room.

"Initiate stage three."

"Oh, great!" had been Rose Tyler's first words when the Doctor had not waited for her at the meeting point in the city centre of Meurlin, the capital of Verolis. "And he tells _me_ not to wander off!" When they had parted they had agreed to meet again after three hours, leaving both of them enough time to run their respective errands. Admittedly she had been late as well, but that had only been due to the long queue at the only open till of the local version of Boot's. She waited another half an hour and then told the owner of a nearby market stall to tell the tall bloke in the leather jacket who might show up and ask for her she had gone back to their ship. Maybe the Doctor had decided to take the spare parts he had been searching for back to the ship first and had got caught up in the installation of one part or another. However, it was only sensible to leave him a message in case they missed each other.

On her way to the ship she checked her mobile. No missed calls, especially none flagged with the little TARDIS logo that represented the Doctor, but a text from Shireen asking if she wanted to come to a party on Friday. Maybe she could persuade him to take her back? Just for a short visit. After all, her friends hadn't seen her for a year, thanks to him.

Ten minutes later she reached the ship. She fumbled the key out of her jeans pocket and opened the door. The control room looked like they had left it. There was no sign that the Doctor had been here in the meantime and the ship felt empty. She carried her purchases into her room and came back. Still no sign of the Doctor. And she had a really bad feeling about that.

She went over to the console. A few days ago the Doctor had explained how she could access the general database with information on every planet the Doctor had ever visited or ever intended to. After a few seconds in which she tried to remember his instructions she found the available data on Verolis. Half an hour later she had acquired a basic overview of Verolis, its governmental system, geography, history, major industries, trade agreements with neighbour planets and the latest celeb gossip. With every elapsing minute she got increasingly worried. If he had been delayed by something he would have phoned by now. Unless he wasn't able to, and in that case calling him would probably make things worse.

With growing desperation she selected the entry for Meurlin and discovered that the city possessed a CCTV system with public access. According to the database this was due to the planet's open information policy, comparable to Sweden, where everybody's income was public knowledge. She wrinkled her nose. She wasn't even sure what to think about all the CCTV cameras at home and there only the police had access to the system. But _everybody_?

She clicked on the provided link. A website opened and offered her pictures from nearly every part of the town and the opportunity to choose a timeframe. She selected the one labelled "City Centre – Market Square" and a timeframe that covered the time the Doctor and she had parted and hit the replay-button. Several minutes later she discovered him in the crowds. His leather jacket stood out against the brighter clothing of the locals. On the screen she followed his path which crossed the picture frame from right to left. Going back to the main menu she chose the camera that covered the adjacent area. A few seconds later she found him again. The system allowed her to follow his progress through the city on fast forward, minute for minute and camera for camera. Ten minutes later she gasped in horror. Half an hour after their parting the Doctor had been abducted.

_The subject started murmuring something in an alien language about half an hour ago, probably in an attempt to fight the process. But the chemicals seem to work and the sub-level indoctrination shows first results. Unfortunately the first side effects of the drugs are already showing as well but hopefully we can counter them._

The observer stood at his usual place behind a mirror and watched one of his assistants, Dr Rayel, enter the room. The bright light had been dimmed a bit.

"Micael, I'm Dr Rayel," she said. "You had an accident and are in hospital now."

Slowly the man looked up. "Micael. Is that my name?"

"You can't remember?"

For a few seconds the man kept silent, apparently searching his memories. "I... That can't be true. Micael... It somehow doesn't feel right..." His voice trailed off.

"And what would feel right?"

Silence.

"Micael, what is the last thing you remember?"

The man seemed to struggle to access his memories. "I was searching... for spare parts. For my ship."

"Your ship," Dr Rayel repeated sceptically. "What ship?"

"My space ship, yeah."

"What does it look like?"

Silence.

"Micael?"

"This will sound insane, I know, but it looks like a blue box."

"A blue box?"

"Do you know that you sound like a parrot?"

"A parrot? What's a parrot?"

"There. You did it again." He paused. "I don't know. Why don't I know?" He sounded curious.

"I'm sorry to say that, but it seems you suffered severe head trauma from your accident, Micael. We've already notified your family. They're on their way from your farm."

"Impossible," he whispered, a scared look in his eyes.

"Why should it be impossible?"

Silence.

"Your family will be here in about two hours. I'll leave you to rest. A neurologist might come to examine your head, but otherwise I want you to sleep."

She left.

The observer smiled at his assistant. "Good work." Then he nodded at the technician. "Release the next dosage into his system and increase the intensity of the light."

Rose followed the progress of the hover car the Doctor had been dragged into like she had followed him on CCTV. The transporter had made its way towards the outer skirts of the city where the surveillance system was less tight. For long five minutes she thought she had lost track and jumped frantically from one camera to another until she eventually discovered the car again. It had stopped in front of what looked like a large industrial complex. The whole area was surrounded by a wall covered with barb wire and as far as she could see the only way in seemed to be a gate, with guards stationed in a small hut next to the entrance. According to the time signal of the camera the transporter had entered the premises nearly four hours ago.

"Think!" Rose told herself. What should she do? She didn't want to go to the police or another authority. Open information policy sounded good on the surface but she had the dim feeling that it was just an elaborate system of keeping Meurlin's citizens under surveillance. If _anyone_ could see what you were doing chances were that no one would disobey whatever rules the authorities set up.

The Doctor had told her about Emergency Program One but she was NOT going to use that. No way. Although she really didn't want to think too closely about why she ruled out that possibility so resolutely. That left her with only one option if she didn't want to stay on this planet forever. She had to go and try to free him. She only had to find out where exactly the industrial complex was, get there, sneak in, find out where he was held, free him and return to the TARDIS. Simple, really, she thought sarcastically. It's not as if she was Zoe Reynolds from 'Spooks' and did things like that every day. Although her life seemed to involve an awful lot of running nowadays and she strongly suspect that this day wouldn't be any different.

After a few seconds of pondering non-existent alternatives she got up and went to her room. From the wardrobe she retrieved a small knapsack and went to the kitchen. She would need food and beverages. Plus, she was fairly certain she had seen an older model of the sonic screwdriver hidden in a box on a shelf. And there had to be a pair of wire cutters somewhere on this ship. She guessed the sonic would solve that problem as well, but she didn't have time to figure out the setting. Hopefully the one in the kitchen was set on lock opener.

_The side effects are getting stronger. The subject's right heart has stopped beating, leaving him wary. Fortunately this helps to convince him further of his current condition. _

The observer closed the file when the technician announced that the family had arrived.

"Reduce the light intensity, restrain him again, bandage the marks and send her in."

A few minutes later a woman entered the room, followed by Dr Rayel.

"Micael! You're alive! You scared me to death."

The man looked at her in utter confusion.

"I'm sorry but - who are you?"

Dr Rayel laid her hand on the woman's arm in a comforting gesture. "I should have mentioned that before, Mrs Darren. Your husband suffered severe head trauma during the accident and seems to have lost his memory."

"Husband?" the man asked with growing astonishment. "I'm not... that's impossible."

The woman sighed. "Did he tell you about his space ship?" she asked the doctor.

"A blue box?"

"Yes. Well, when he was a child he dreamt about travelling the universe. And then his best friend died and he thought it was his fault."

The man winced.

The woman continued, "He became ill and hallucinated about travelling through space in a blue box. And now, if something disturbs him he still dreams about it. It sometimes takes days until he becomes himself again."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs Darren, I didn't know that."

"No, of course not, how could you? I'm so grateful for saving his life. And please, call me Elora."

"Elora, I'm sorry, but there is something else I have to tell you." Dr Rayel repeated her earlier gesture and laid her hand on Elora's arm. "Due to the injuries we have to perform a lobotomy, otherwise we won't be able to save his life."

"What does that mean?"

"The accident caused severe brain damage in certain regions which led to massive epileptic seizures."

"That's not true!" the man on the bed interrupted the doctor. "That... that can't be true."

"I'm sorry but it is true. That's why we had to restrain him," she said to Mrs Darren. "Otherwise your husband would have hurt himself. But with the lobotomy we might be able to switch off certain parts of his brain to avoid further bouts."

"You're lying!" the man shouted, frantically trying to remove the bonds that held his body in place. "You abducted me, you drugged me, you electrocuted me and now you're going to kill me."

"Shhh," Dr Rayel said, looking him into the eyes, "Micael, please calm down and think. Why would we do that? We're only here to help you. You've been injured and are in a hospital. If we had done what you said, do you really think we would let your wife visit you?"

The man stared at her, trying to process her words. After a few moments the madness vanished and his eyes showed resignation. He turned his head and faced the wall.

The doctor returned her attention to Elora. "Mrs Darren, as the psychiatrist determined that your husband is not in a state of mind to make important decisions we would need your consent to perform the surgery. I suggest we'll talk about that in a few minutes and I leave you with your husband for now."

With that she left the room.

Elora sat down on the white chair next to the bed. "Micael, please, look at me."

He didn't move.

"These people are just trying to help you."

Silence.

"Micael, please."

Slowly he turned his head and faced her without a word.

"Why don't you believe them?"

The man struggled to form words. Eventually he said, "It isn't real."

"But it is. Why shouldn't it be real?"

"It can't be."

She sighed and got up. "Get some sleep. I'll be back after I've talked with Dr Rayel."

"I can't."

"What do you mean?"

"Sleep. When I close my eyes all I see is death and destruction. And it's driving me insane."

"Micael, that's not real. You've never seen something like that. It never happened. You're a farmer. You're my husband and the father to Sahra. You've been injured and you're ill. Get some sleep. Please."

She walked to the door and nearly missed his whispered next words.

"A daughter?" It was barely detectable but it seemed there was longing in his voice.

Elora turned around and smiled. "And she wants her father to get better as soon as possible. The doctor thinks this surgery will help you. Think about it, please."

Rose had found some snack bars in the galley and filled a canteen with water. A quick search of the Doctor's repair shop had equipped her with a pair of strong wire cutters, a rope and a heavy torch that reminded her of the ones carried by the police at home. She'd even found sunglasses, something that passed for a camera in this time period but could also be used as field glasses and a guidebook with a map of the city had been in the library. A bit of masquerading couldn't hurt and the only act she knew she could pull off convincingly was 'lost tourist on a foreign planet', having done that for a few weeks now.

After some frantic clicking on the website with the cameras she had even found out where the location of the industrial complex was, okay, were the camera was that showed the building, and Verolis's version of 'Google Earth' had provided her with directions.

With a long last glance at the console she snatched her gray jumper, shouldered the knapsack and left the ship. On the outside she carefully closed the doors and locked them, caressed the wood and then turned west towards the city centre, every now and then glancing at the map in her guidebook and taking pictures of the points of interest like any visitor would, while keeping an eye out for pursuers. Hopefully her act would convince whoever was watching her on CCTV that she just was a harmless tourist. After half an hour the landmarks became rarer and she noticed that she had crossed the city centre and entered districts that were less frequented by visitors. She kept her act up until she was fairly certain to have reached the areas with less surveillance, and hoped that no one was spending time watching the cameras covering her route.

Two hours after she had left the TARDIS Rose eventually reached the industrial park that was her destination. The streets were deserted, no hover cars or people returning home from work could be seen. It was already turning dark, but not dark enough to get anywhere near the wall surrounding the premises without being noticed immediately. Exhausted as she was from the long walk she needed to rest before she could try to enter the complex. She stared at the buildings in the street and eventually her glance fell on an abandoned factory. The construction seemed to be relatively old, the mortar between the yellow bricks already crumbling, several windows broken. The factory was secured by a rusting chain-link fence but in a corner she spotted a loose edge. Maybe she could take her rest inside. Just until it was fully dark.

With a short glance along the road she ducked under the loose edge of the fence and made her way to a metal door in the nearest wall of the building while she searched her knapsack for the sonic. When she reached the door she still hadn't found it. After a few more seconds of frantically shoving snack bars and wire cutters from one corner to another she eventually felt a thin metal structure under her fingers and pulled it out.

Sending a short prayer to every deity in the universe that might be willing to listen she aimed the sonic screwdriver at the lock and pressed the button, hoping that it was charged. Why, oh why, hadn't she tried that back in the TARDIS?

The lock clicked and she released the breath she had been holding. She put the sonic in her jeans pocket and opened the door, trying not to make a sound. Gathering her courage she entered the building. She had made a few tentative steps into the darkness when suddenly two arms reached around her from behind and a hand pressed a cloth against her mouth. Seconds later everything went dark.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

_During prior sessions we noticed that the subject has got a very short REM sleep which seems to indicate that he doesn't normally sleep much. Unfortunately this interferes with our standard indoctrination method and we had to use less advanced methods like suggestion while searching for means to prolong his REM sleep. Although we can't predict what impact the suggestion is going to have on him the conversation he had with Dr Rayel and the woman revealed very interesting facts. His descriptions and his demeanour before the treatment lead to the conclusion that he has been a soldier before coming to Verolis. Maybe we could make use of that in the final stage of the post-surgery indoctrination._

The observer stood on his usual place behind the two-way-mirror and watched the man on the bed. Half an hour ago he had fallen into a fitful sleep again. Unfortunately that type of sleep was useless for their purposes. He turned to the technician at the console.

"Have the electrodes been refitted?"

"Yes, sir."

"And the IV drip?"

"The dosage has been adjusted to your specifications."

"Good. Start the next session."

The man flipped a switch and the IV drip began to release its contents into the man's system. In a couple of minutes they could begin with the most important phase of the pre-surgery indoctrination.

The observer resumed his prior position, a thoughtful look on his face. When the woman had mentioned the fate of the non-existent brother an expression of guilt had crossed the man's features. Apparently the man had done something that left such a deep imprint on his subconscious that it couldn't be overwritten by normal indoctrination. Not that he needed the reassurance. Everyone was guilty of something. But it was always nice to be proven right. And now they were helping him to become a responsible member of the society they were building.

After about ten minutes the scientist could see that the body relaxed. The electrodes which this time only served to record his brain waves indicated that the man had eventually fallen in a REM sleep. The new concoction seemed to work just fine.

"Begin the next phase of the indoctrination."

The observer watched for five more minutes and was about to retreat to his office when without warning the man on the bed screamed at the top of his voice and the EEG monitor showed brain activities out of every known scale. Then the brain waves went back to a lower than normal level. The man who had been asleep was now deeply unconscious.

On the far side of the city centre the TARDIS felt that the link she shared with the Doctor had been violated. The connection was still there but it dangled on a string. The lights in the console room suddenly lost their intensity and the constant hum dropped by an octave while the ship struggled to sustain the link. Without it the Time Lord would lose every mental barrier he had built around the memories of the Time War. In addition the TARDIS tried to maintain the most basic functions based on a built-in priority list: the life support system, the infirmary and the translation circuit. On Earth the ship would have shut down that as well but on an inhabited alien planet its importance was rated fairly high because most of the companions didn't speak or understand Galactic Basic.

With a cough Rose regained her consciousness, feeling that something was very, very wrong. Her head felt as if someone had screamed inside her skull. After a few seconds everything came back. The Doctor had been abducted and then someone... Eventually she registered a young man with unruly ginger hair leaning over her. She guessed that he was probably four or five years older than her – depending on if you counted the year she had missed. He retreated hastily when she sat up and glared at him.

"Who are you and what do you want with me?"

"I'm sorry," he stuttered, blushing. "I... We..." He gestured at the small group of ginger-haired people behind him. "We thought you were with SecPol."

"What's SecPol?" she asked confusedly.

He stared at her. "Everyone knows that."

"Let's pretend I'm stupid." She was tired, worried about the Doctor, had apparently been kidnapped by the Weasley family and was in no mood to be nice.

The young man winced at her tone but replied anyway. "SecPol is the Security Police. Supposedly they are to prevent terrorism attacks but nowadays they are after everyone who dares to criticise the government."

"And why did you think I was with them?"

"You came here," he stated, as if that explained everything. "No one comes here anymore. The factories closed down in the recession three years ago and the SecPol building down the street is the only one that's still in use."

Great. The Doctor had been abducted by an obscure government institution that quite likely was monitoring the entire area. And strolling through a deserted industry park with a knapsack wasn't exactly inconspicuous. Chances were that she had already been detected. Her day kept getting better and better.

"And you thought I had been searching for you when I came here," Rose concluded. "But what did convince you I wasn't SecPol?"

The young man winced again. "They've got this tattoo." He indicated awkwardly at his hip.

"You..." Rose was furious.

"I was the one who had a look," the only girl in the group cut in.

"Yeah, she made us turn around," the boy on her right added, his face taking on the lovely shade of a ripe tomato. She estimated that he was about two years younger than the man she had seen first and maybe one year older than the girl.

Rose tried to suppress a laugh at his expression but failed. "I'm sorry. But don't you think I would have called them if I worked for them instead of coming here alone?"

"Oh."

"And what tells me it's not you who works for SecPol?"

Silence.

"You haven't been doing this, whatever this is, for long, have you?"

The young man shook his head.

"And what exactly _are_ you doing?" she asked. Suddenly she realized that she didn't even know their names and added, "I'm Rose Tyler, by the way."

"I'm Torrin, and the guys over there are Halin, Mara and Gavlin."

"Are you related?"

"Yes. Mara is my sister and Halin and Gavlin are my cousins. The hair is a dead giveaway, isn't it?"

"Yeah." She grinned. "So, Torrin, what are you doing in an abandoned factory?"

"It's a long story."

"Don't worry, I won't be going anywhere until it's dark outside."

Torrin blushed again. "Uh, Rose..."

The bad feeling increased. "How long have I been unconscious?" she asked, dreading the answer.

"Uh..."

"Three hours," Mara cut in. "He took too much chloroform."

Rose stared at the group. "You drugged me with something that could have killed me because you thought I was with a government organisation, you don't even apologize for that and then you tell me that I've been unconscious for three hours? As you might have noticed I'm not touring Meurlin's industry parks because of the nice landscape!" When she saw the shocked faces she realized that she had gone all Jackie Tyler on them and took a deep breath to calm down.

"I'm sorry. It's just... They've abducted..." God, she didn't even know how to describe her relation to him. He was an alien, the last of the Time Lords and he could travel through time and space. He was the designated driver, he was moody and funny and gorgeous and irritating and everything in between. And all of that came down to just two words. "...my friend."

Torrin looked at her sympathetically. "They've taken two of our family members as well. We don't even know if they're still alive."

"What did they do?"

"Nothing." That was Halin. It was the first time Rose heard him speak. Although he seemed to be older than Torrin the other man apparently acted as the appointed leader of the little group. Seeing the sceptical look Rose was giving him he repeated, "Really, nothing. They just went to the market and then..."

"We don't know what really happened. They just vanished," Mara continued. "They didn't return to our village in the evening. The next day we reported them missing but the police officer said there was nothing he could do."

"That was three days ago," Gavlin cut in. "Not a word."

Rose mulled this over. "So possibly SecPol has taken them and the police know what's going on?"

"Scratch 'possibly'. I know we're talking the police but I don't think they'd normally be that lazy."

"You said they went to the market. How do you know that?"

"We don't know for sure if they ever got there but they had a long shopping list. Why do you ask?"

"The Doctor... my friend... he went to the market to buy spare parts for the... our ship. And then..." She tried to remember what she had seen on the CCTV recording. "I don't know but he looked as if he had a purpose. I mean, aside from buying spare parts. And then he was dragged into a hover car."

"You _saw_ that?" Halin asked sceptically.

"Yeah, on CCTV. Why?"

"I didn't even think about that!" Torrin exclaimed. "We don't have CCTV in our village and you can only access the Meurlin circuit from within the city. I totally forgot."

"Then we can find out what happened to them!" Mara said enthusiastically.

"No. The data is only available to the public for twenty-four hours. It's too late."

A short silence followed his words.

Eventually Rose said, "But you came here. Why?"

The others cast each other meaningful glances, maybe still uncertain if they could trust her. Eventually they seemed to have come to a conclusion.

"People have been talking," Halin explained. "There are rumours that people are brought here and when they come back they're... different."

"Different? How?"

"They act differently. Like, they get enthusiastic about the government even if they've been indifferent or dismissive before. According to the stories some don't even recognize their family and friends anymore."

"I had this friend..." Gavlin said. "She was very critical about the government, always wanted to change things for the better. But then she vanished and when I saw her again she was completely different. She went on and on about how she had to do her job well so the government would be proud of her. She didn't even look at me properly. It was as if I didn't exist for her anymore..."

"And that happens here? And people _know_ that? But why doesn't anyone do something?"

"They are afraid," Torrin stated matter-of-factly. "We are afraid as well. If you say something you could very well be the next person ending up there."

"I don't care."

"But it's dangerous."

Dangerous, yeah. In the last few weeks she had had to adjust her definition of 'dangerous' more times than she could remember. She knew it was naive to believe that nothing could ever happen to her as long as the Doctor was around. On the other hand they had survived the cruise missile, hadn't they? Anyway, the moment she had chosen not to use Emergency Protocol One she had known she'd do anything in her power to free him.

"As I said, I don't care," she repeated. "I have to get the Doctor out. I can't let anything like that happen to him." And she strongly suspected that he had found out what was going on as well, and that he had ended up in the building down the road because of that. He was the sort of person who would despise despots and mind control. He was the most powerful being in the universe and he cared even for a maid like Gwyneth and a shop girl like herself because they _interested_ him. So of course he would have done something against whatever was going on here.

"Are you going to help me?"

A short silence followed her question. Then Halin shrugged and said, "Why not? It can't get much worse, can it?"

Mara added, "It's only a matter of time before they come for us as well, after taking our relatives. Maybe, if we do something now, we can still free them..."

Torrin and Gavlin nodded slowly.

"Okay, we need a plan," Rose said. "What do you know about the building?" Inwardly she winced. She was Rose Tyler from the Powell Estate, for god's sake, a simple shop girl, and she behaved as if she knew everything and broke into the headquarters of secret government organisations weekly. And now she had even bullied the four locals into helping her.

"I'm sorry," she apologized.

"What for?" asked Torrin.

"I didn't mean to make you do something you don't really want to. You don't have to help me. I mean you don't even know if that's going to help your family or get you in trouble as well."

"As I said," Halin retorted, "it can't get much worse than it already is. Maybe we find them, maybe not, but at least we can say we tried."

"That's right," agreed Torrin. "I think we just needed someone to help us make up our mind. And without you we would still be sitting here tomorrow and discuss if we should do something. Thanks." He smiled at her. "So, what about the plan?"

They gathered around a table and Torrin produced a few sheets of paper. Gavlin who was good at sketching drew a map of the SecPol premises with what the four of them could remember, having watched the building from the roof of the abandoned factory earlier this afternoon. With great effort Rose stopped herself from constantly worrying about the Doctor and tried to concentrate on the plan, despite her headache she couldn't get rid of.

_We still don't know what happened during the last indoctrination phase. Without any prior warning the subject screamed and fell unconscious. Although we don't think something in the indoctrination program triggered this we can't be certain. Thus we have decided to postpone any further attempts until after the surgery and to rely on the less advanced methods again in the meantime. Our scientists are researching if there are any anaesthetics that might be harmful as we nearly killed him in the beginning with a concoction that contained traces of acetylsalicylic acid. If this was a normal case we would take the chance but there are certain things that might make him a valuable asset in the future and we're not going to risk this._

The observer watched the man in the room. He was conscious now but seemed to be paralyzed, catatonic even. He hadn't moved for more than half an hour, simply staring at the white ceiling, unaware of the tears running down his cheeks. They couldn't even think about performing the surgery while he was in this state, it would just turn him into a living cadaver. And in that case they would have been better off to kill him outright. Less waste of resources. They needed him with at least a bit of the specific self-awareness he should have after the indoctrination. He made a decision.

"Send her in again."

"And the girl?" the technician asked.

"No. She stays where she is."

A few minutes later the woman entered the room again, alone this time, and sat down on his bed, gently wiping his tears away.

"Micael."

Silence.

"Micael, please. Look at me."

Again the only answer was silence.

Taking his hand the woman continued, "Your daughter is waiting outside. She wants to see you."

Was it an illusion or had the blink of his eyes quickened? The next second the observer was certain: The man's lips were forming soundless words.

"Micael?"

Eventually the man turned his head and faced the woman.

"What happened?" he whispered hoarsely.

"I don't know. The doctor won't tell us but... We thought you were going to die."

He was silent for a long time and the scientist was nearly certain that the man had fallen back into his catatonic condition when he heard him sigh, "Then it would have finally been over..."

"What do you mean?" the woman asked.

"The screams, the destruction, the pain... Everything."

"Micael, it's not real. Believe me, it's not. The doctors can help you. And then you can come back to us, build a life without all the pain you're feeling now, help us build our new society. Don't you think that's worth it?"

"I don't know..."

The scientist turned around when the technician called him.

"Sir, the researchers have found an anaesthetic that might work without being harmful to him."

"Are they certain he'll survive?"

"No, but they say that's all they can give us."

He nodded slowly. "Prepare him."

It was pitch black when they left the factory and made their way to the SecPol premises, trying to be as quiet as possible. In a deserted industrial area like this the city council apparently thought it useless to lit street lamps. Rose could barely see where she was going and sometimes stumbled upon rubbish on the pavement while she wondered why the others didn't seem to have similar problems. After a short walk of about five minutes they reached the wall that surrounded the building. Back in the factory Halin had mentioned a lamppost next to the wall and suggested that they could use it to cross the barrier. Rose was still wondering how they would manage to climb a plain metal pole when Gavlin pulled several rubber slings out of the bag he was carrying and fastened them on his thighs and lower legs. Seeing her curious look he explained, "I'm going to climb the post and fix your rope at the top. The rubber slings stop me from sliding back."

Within thirty seconds Gavlin reached to top of the pole and fixed the rope. Even if she had still been practicing gymnastics regularly she would never made it up there so quickly. Gavlin climbed down again until he was on level with the top of the wall and hissed, "Wire cutters!"

Halin tossed him the tool Rose had brought from the TARDIS. With a routine resulting from working together on a daily basis Gavlin caught it even in the darkness that was only lit by a bit of moonlight shining through gaps in the clouds. He quickly cut through the barbed wire, stuck the tool cutters in his belt and cleared about a metre of the wall from the remnants of the wire before he sat down on the structure. Then he gestured at Halin. His brother scrambled up the wall with the help of the rope, lowered it on the other side and reached the ground quickly. Then Gavlin pulled the rope back, let it down again on the street side and pointed at Rose. When she had reached the ground on the other side Gavlin repeated the procedure with Mara and Torrin and eventually climbed down himself.

The small group gathered in the darkness.

"The side entrance is that way," Torrin whispered, pointing somewhere in the darkness.

"Are you sure?" Rose asked.

"Of course. It's right there. Can't you see it?"

"No."

"You're an idiot, Torrin," Mara hissed. "Of course she can't. She's an outworlder." Turning to Rose she continued, "It's a genetic trait many people on this planet have. We can see fairly well in the darkness."

"That's amazing."

"Well, it has been useful." Rose could hear the other woman grin in the darkness. "Come on, give me your hand. We can't have you getting lost somehow."

Rose had already been wondering why the premises of the SecPol headquarters weren't lit but that explained a lot. And the building looked less conspicuous at night. After about fifty steps they reached the metal door and Rose pulled the sonic screwdriver out of her jeans pocket. She aimed it at the lock and pressed the button, hoping that she hadn't already drained the battery at the factory. Sure, it was alien technology but who knew how long the thing had lain in that box in the galley?

Fortunately the familiar buzzing sound was followed by a click of the lock. She tugged at the knob and the door opened without a sound, revealing a corridor lit by dim emergency lights. Somehow she had expected it to creak like in a bad horror movie but this was even more creepy. They looked at each other. Now they would enter unknown territory. After what seemed an eternity but could not have been more than half a minute Rose stepped through the door, hoping that she wasn't about to be chloroformed for the second time in four hours, and this time most likely by decidedly unfriendly people.

Nothing happened. Encouraged the others followed her along the corridor, opening every door on both sides only to discover that they led to unused offices and store rooms. After two or three minutes they came to a junction.

"Left or right?" Torrin asked.

"One direction is as good as the other," Halin gave back. "It's not as if we knew where they are."

"Torrin and I go left, the rest of you right?" Rose suggested. "That would double our chances."

The others nodded in agreement.

"Okay, let's go."

Rose and Torrin followed the left corridor and again opened every door. In one room Rose discovered two white lab coats and tossed one at Torrin.

"With a bit of luck they'll think we work here when they see us wearing this."

They donned the coats and continued the path down the corridor. When they reached a corner they carefully looked around it and discovered a group of people leaving a room on the right side. Torrin took a deep breath.

"What's up?"

"That's my aunt, the woman that just left the room."

"The one who's missing?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, let's see where she's brought."

Rose and Torrin followed the small group of people. When they got to the room the people had emerged from Rose cast a short glance inside and stopped dead. On a bed lay the Doctor, apparently unconscious, an IV drip in his arm.

She rushed in and halted in front of the bed.

"Doctor?" she asked, her voice nearly a whisper.

He showed no reaction. Carefully she touched him at the shoulder. "Doctor?"

With growing desperation she shook him. "Doctor!"

"Rose!" Torrin hissed, "They'll hear you."

"Sorry!"

The Doctor's eyes fluttered open.

"Doctor!" Rose repeated, relief in her voice. "Oh my god, what happened to you?"

"Who are you?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Doctor, it's me, Rose!"

"I... don't know... who you are," he managed before he fell unconscious again.

Rose stared at him, unable to process what was happening. How could he not know her? She was only here because of him.

"Rose," Torrin interrupted her thoughts, "we don't have time. They'll come back..."

Rose came back to her senses. "Right. He's unconscious and I don't think we can carry him outside. We need a gurney or something..."

She looked around but aside from the bed, a chair, a monitor showing the Doctor's vital signs and a mirror in the wall the room was completely empty. "Let's have a look in the next few rooms."

They dashed back into the corridor, Torrin opening the next door on the left, Rose on the right. It took her a moment to register what she was seeing. A large window was overlooking the room the Doctor was in and there was a console on the wall that seemed to control the equipment in the room. And the high voltage signs let her suspect that something other than just monitoring the Doctor had been going on here. A folder lay on a desk next to the window. She opened it and discovered a report.

_The patrol discovered a new candidate for the program and brought him in fifteen minutes ago. He seems to be in a good physical condition although we still have to run some tests before we can decide on the right treatment._

"Rose?"

She nearly screamed when she heard Torrin's voice from behind but caught herself.

"I've found a gurney."

"Great. Let's get the Doctor the hell out of here." She grabbed the folder, stuffed it into her small knapsack and followed Torrin back into the adjacent room. "Have you seen a black leather jacket somewhere?"

"No."

"Can't be helped," she muttered under her breath. He wouldn't like it but she had no choice. Getting him out of here and figuring out what had happened to him was more important. Hopefully. Who knew what he had stashed in that jacket? Knowing him it could literally be anything, from a couple of ancient coins to a zero gravity generator, with Excalibur and enough Nitro-9 to start a small war in between.

The Doctor didn't as much as stir while they removed the electrodes and the IV drip and transferred him to the gurney although they weren't exactly gentle. He was heavier than she had thought, even without the ever-present leather and the safety boots, and she was certain he would develop a few bruises on his hip and ribs because she had not been able to stop him from banging against the metal frame.

Eventually they had him secured and Rose pushed the gurney to the door. Fortunately the corridor outside the room was still empty. Although that was giving her the creeps as well. She simply couldn't imagine why they would leave him alone like that, especially when there was a room next door that was obviously build to observe him. She dismissed the thought. Best to get him out of here as quickly as possible.

She had made it a few steps down the corridor when she noticed that Torrin wasn't following. He stood in the middle of the corridor, alternately glancing at her and in the opposite direction where the group of people had vanished minutes ago.

"I'm sorry," he said eventually. "But I can't come with you."

"But..."

"I have to find my aunt and my cousin."

Rose nodded. He had come with her mostly because they had shared a goal. But that was no longer true and she couldn't even hold it against him. She would have done the same.

"Good luck." She smiled tentatively.

"Thanks." He followed the corridor in the direction his aunt and the people accompanying her had vanished. Rose sighed and turned around to push the gurney in the opposite direction. Torrin going to search for his aunt left her with another problem. How would she ever be able to get the Doctor over the wall and back to the TARDIS? She hadn't really expected him to be unconscious. The Doctor and 'unconscious' somehow didn't fit. And to think he wouldn't recognize her...

She expected to hear shouts from behind every moment. Shouts that didn't come. That alone made her more uneasy than the usual 'Run for your life' situation would have. When she reached the first corner she released a breath she hadn't even realized she was holding. At least she was out of sight for the moment.

After a few more minutes she reached the junction that lead to the entrance they had used earlier and paused to catch her breath. Unlike the gurneys she had seen in movies this one had large rubber wheels which in combination with the thick linoleum on the floor caused a lot of resistance. She was about to resume her way to the exit when she heard quick footsteps. Pressing herself against the wall she glanced around the corner, hoping that whoever it was wouldn't spot the gurney at first sight. With a sigh of relief she recognized Mara, Gavlin and a brunette girl she had never seen before. She stepped into the corridor.

The others stopped at the sudden appearance of someone clad in a white lab coat and relaxed visibly when she shrugged out of the garment and they realized who she was.

"Rose, this is our cousin Sahra," Gavlin said. "Sahra, Rose."

The two girls nodded at each other.

"Where is Torrin?" Mara inquired.

"He went after his aunt."

"As did Halin," Gavlin explained his brother's absence before Rose could ask. "We found Sahra in a cell and he decided we should go back while he would continue searching for her mother." He paused. "Did you find your friend?"

"Yeah, but he's unconscious." She gestured at the gurney behind the corner. "He won't be able to make it over the wall."

Gavlin considered this unexpected development. "We can't leave him," he acknowledged. "But how do we get him out of here?"

Rose tossed the lab coat on the foot end of the gurney and took the Doctor's hand. She could feel a steady, if slow, pulse but he felt much warmer than normal. He still showed no signs that he would wake up any time soon. "I don't know," she said while she pushed the gurney towards the exit, this time assisted by Mara. "But... Wait a minute. The Doctor was brought here in a hover car." She eyed Gavlin speculatively. "Can you drive?"

"You mean you want to _steal_ it?" Mara asked and stopped. The gurney slowed down. "But that's illegal!"

"Kidnapping people is illegal as well," Sahra interrupted. She was only about Mara's age but she seemed even more grown up and there was a hard undertone in her voice. Rose guessed the girl had not exactly had the most pleasant time in the last few days.

"It's definitely the quickest way to leave. I have never driven a hover car, but I don't think it will be so different from the farm machines." Gavlin's voice sounded determined. "We only have to find one and short-circuit it."

Rose grinned. "Maybe I can help with that. Hopefully the sonic screwdriver does not only work on door locks."

When they reached the exit Sahra held the door open. The gurney was nearly as wide as the doorframe but with a bit of manoeuvring Rose and Mara got it over the threshold. Rubbing her jammed fingers Rose asked Gavlin, "Do you know where the car park is?"

The young man pulled out the map he had drawn earlier and pointed. "Two hundred metres, that way."

With a sigh Rose positioned herself at the foot of the gurney. She was exhausted and wanted to be back in the TARDIS. Gavlin took over Mara's place. "Let's go."

They hadn't even made it half the distance when they heard a shout. "Halt! Who there? Identify yourself!" Whoever it was, they must have seen the white of the bed linen and the lab coat reflecting the moonlight.

Rose shot Gavlin a short glance and yelled at the others, "Run!"

As fast as they could they pushed the gurney towards the car park while guards were telling them to stop. Someone was giving out orders to detain them and soon heavy footsteps drew nearer. Rose lost her grip on the frame when she accidently stepped into a pothole but recovered quickly. Thirty seconds later they reached the first hover car and stopped, only to be propelled forward another two metres by the momentum of the gurney. Panting heavily Rose yanked the sonic screwdriver out of her pocket while Mara pulled at the backseat door and discovered that the car wasn't locked. Gavlin opened the driver's door, got into the car and tried to figure out the controls. Quickly Sahra and Mara removed the belts they had used to secure the Doctor on the gurney and the three girls manoeuvred him inside, all the time hearing the guards coming nearer. Rose wondered why they didn't shoot but dismissed the thought to concentrate on securing first the Doctor and then herself on the seat next to him while Sahra took a place on the opposite and Mara situated herself on the front passenger seat.

"Go!" Sahra shouted when she saw that the guards were only twenty feet away.

"There's no key!"

"Here." Rose handed the sonic to Gavlin. "Just aim at the lock and press the button. Oh, and pray. It seems to help."

Gavlin aimed, pressed the button and Rose prayed for the third time in less than six hours that the sonic screwdriver would work. The miracle repeated itself and the hover car came to life with an almost purring sound.

He passed the sonic back to Rose, pressed the accelerator, the car sped up and the guards who were trying to block their path jumped aside. A quick turn at the steering wheel and they headed directly towards the gate. For a few seconds Rose felt them slow down but then Gavlin pressed the pedal down and they gained more speed. Five seconds later they crashed through the gate and Rose tried to stabilize the Doctor whose motionless body was tossed around in the car despite the fastened seatbelt. His skin felt unusually hot and his forehead was covered in cold sweat. His condition worried her. What had been in the IV drip?

Gavlin followed the street away from the SecPol building and took a few corners at breakneck speed. If this had been a normal car the wheels surely would have left the ground on one side. The hover car on the other hand nearly touched the pavement in the turns. Rose was glad to be sitting in the backseat because they hadn't even turned on the headlights. She really didn't want to know in advance if they were to crash into a wall at top speed. Their survival depended solely on Gavlin's ability to see obstacles in the dark. After a few minutes they left the industrial park and reached inhabited areas. Their designated driver slowed down and eventually lit the headlights.

"Where to?" he asked.

"Do you think they're following us?"

"I don't know. But we can't keep the car. It's much too conspicuous once it's morning."

Rose thought for a minute. "Just take us back to our ship and then hide the car somewhere. Do you've got a place where you can go?"

Gavlin kept silent for a while, then he nodded. "There is someone who might help us." He paused. "So, where is this ship of yours?"

~o~o~o~

_Due to unexpected developments we lost the subject. Apparently he was freed by the opposition. According to the CCTV in the room one of the intruders seemed to know him although he did not recognize her. Maybe the indoctrination was successful after all. Unfortunately it's unlikely that we'll ever find out._

A knock on the door interrupted the scientist in his thoughts. A guard sergeant appeared in his office.

"Sir, we lost the girl."

"You _lost_ her? She was locked in a cell so how could you possibly lose her?"

"Whoever it was, they knocked the guard unconscious and freed her." The man paused. "And Dr Rayel said they took the case report as well."

"What report? There's no report on the girl."

"The report on the subject in the basement."

The scientist turned around and clenched his fists in an attempt to contain his anger. Now they had not only lost their most valuable subject but also given them evidence of what they were doing. And if the liberal press got a hold on this report they were done for.

"But there are good news as well," the guard continued.

"Yes, sergeant?"

"It seems like we captured one of the intruders."

Maybe it was not over yet.

~o~o~o~

With the help of the map in the guidebook and the directions Rose had scribbled down – had it only been this afternoon? – they navigated through Meurlin. She was surprised to see how empty the streets were, positively deserted. The whole city looked like London at the time the Slitheen had tried to transform the whole planet into a closing sale for cheap radioactive fuel. Two times they nearly got lost in a maze of one-way streets but forty-five minutes after they had broken through the gate they finally reached the small alley where the Doctor had parked the TARDIS.

"Here it is," Rose said. "Thank you so much for helping me."

"But... you said you had a ship," Mara said confusedly.

"See the blue box?"

The other girl nodded.

"That's it."

"Are you serious? That's just a box. And anyone could break into it."

A tiny smile, barely detectable, played around Rose's lips. "There is much more to it than meets the eye. And he said not even the assembled hordes of Genghis Khan could get in there." She unbuckled her seatbelt and then the Doctor's, trying to hold him upright.

Without a word Gavlin left the car idling and moved to Rose's side, opened the door and helped her to get the Doctor out, his arms over their shoulders. They staggered under his weight but eventually managed to get him to the TARDIS. Rose dragged her key out of her jeans pocket and unlocked the door. This time she took the Doctor's feet while Gavlin carried him at the shoulders. Together they moved him into the console room where Gavlin suddenly stopped.

"It's bigger on the inside."

"Yeah, it is. It's got plenty of rooms and it's safe, so if you want to come in and stay here instead of going to your friend... He wouldn't mind." Well, maybe he would, but they had helped to get him out of that nightmare of a hospital and they deserved a bit of gratefulness. No, actually they deserved tons of it. Without Gavlin and his family she would never made it that far.

"Thanks, but this place... it just gives me the creeps... So, where to?"

"Infirmary, I think. Through the arch and then the second door on the left."

Five minutes later the Doctor occupied a narrow bed in his own infirmary and Rose accompanied Gavlin back to the hover car.

"Thank you so much. I really don't know what I would have done without you."

"You're welcome. Without you giving us the kick in the arse we needed we never would have got Sahra out of that place."

Rose hugged the girls and Gavlin took the driver's seat once again. Fortunately the motor hadn't died in the meantime.

With a beaming smile she looked at them. "See you around."

"Bye, Rose," the three of them chorused.

Gavlin pressed the accelerator and the car gained speed. After a few seconds it took the next corner and vanished.

Rose turned around and went back into the TARDIS, closing the doors behind her. Back in the infirmary she laid a hand on the Doctor's forehead. He was still too hot and covered in cold sweat. If only she knew what she could do about that. But she didn't dare to give him anything for fear she might make it worse. So she simply wet a flannel and wiped his face. Maybe that would help to cool him down.

When she reached the collar of the hospital shirt he was wearing she stopped for a second. The white piece of clothing looked so out of place on him that she decided to change it. She had barely opened the cord at the collar and pushed the fabric aside when she gasped. His torso was covered in angry red burn marks. What had they done to him?

~o~o~o~

The TARDIS was worried. His heart rate was unsteady and much too high, as well as his body temperature. From his symptoms the ship could tell that his one of his hearts had stopped some time ago. It was beating again but the last time he had experienced something like that, in his last body, he had been weakened for weeks. Fortunately she had managed to maintain the link with him until now but it was getting harder. He had to wake up within the next few hours or it would break down completely. And the consequences would be disastrous.


	4. Chapter 4

Many thanks to Suninos for the beta.

Certain ideas in this chapter were inspired by Amberfocus's "Moments in Darkness" series and she kindly gave me her permission to use them. Thanks a lot.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

After a few minutes of searching the infirmary Rose eventually found the dermal regenerator and was relieved to discover that it actually had a manual. For the life of her she wasn't able to remember how exactly the Doctor had used it to treat the scratches they had received when Mickey had bombed Downing Street. Unfortunately she only managed to treat the worst marks because by then he was shivering violently despite being so hot and she stopped for fear of making his condition worse. Thus she simply cleaned the other injuries with water and a wound disinfectant she had found in one of the drawers.

In the next hour she read the report she had stolen in the hospital from hell and felt physically sick afterwards. They had tortured him with electroshocks and she strongly suspected that that was where the burn marks came from. But the things they had done to his mind were even worse. They had experimented on him, tried to change him into someone he wasn't and never would be. From what she'd seen the Doctor would never be one to bow to authority. They had tried to convince him that his whole life was a lie. And according to the report they had even been successful to a certain degree. Maybe that was why he hadn't recognized her in the hospital? Had they managed to break him?

While she was sitting next to his bed, every once in a while wiping his face and his torso in another attempt to cool him down, questions kept repeating themselves in her head. Would he recognize her when he finally woke up? And what would she do if he didn't? And if he could forget her – what else could he have forgotten? Would he remember how to pilot the TARDIS? Okay, she wouldn't be stuck here – there still was Emergency Program One. But the TARDIS was worrying her as well. When she had left the ship everything had been normal. Well, as normal as you could expect when dealing with a sentient time ship that was bigger on the inside. When she had returned she hadn't noticed it at first, mostly because she had been occupied with the Doctor's condition, but the lights were dimmer than they had been and the hum felt different. It was as if the ship somehow responded to his state. Would the TARDIS even be able to bring her home?

Two hours later the fever finally broke but the Doctor still showed no sign that he would regain consciousness anytime soon. Rose couldn't even remember how long she had been watching him. She was tired to the bones and waiting for him to wake up slowly drove her spare. After another half an hour of staring at his lifeless form and mulling the same things over and over she got up and ventured into the galley. Ten minutes later she emerged with a mug of tea, still unsure what to do.

For some time she meandered aimless through the ship. Eventually she ended up in the console room and discovered that the website with the CCTV feed was still active. One of the cameras showed something like a demonstration. A large group of people was waving banners and posters in front of a podium. She placed the mug on the console and clicked at the picture to enlarge it. Had the population finally woken up and was protesting against SecPol and their methods?

When she recognized two of the figures on the podium she gasped. What was Torrin doing there with someone who looked like of the scientists she had seen briefly at the SecPol building? Her eyes fell on a little speaker icon in the upper right corner of the screen. She clicked at it and a few seconds later the scientist began to speak. His words chilled her to the bone.

"People of Meurlin! This is the beginning of a new era. For aeons we have struggled against elements who wanted to destroy our society from within. These times are gone forever. Millions of citizens will be working together for one goal, united in one mind." He turned to Torrin. "And now please welcome the first New Citizen."

Torrin stepped forward, an empty look on his face, and began to speak.

"People of Meurlin! The future has already begun. A new world of prosperity and happiness for everyone lies ahead. With everything we have done and with everything we're going to do we only wish to serve Verolis. This is your chance to become part of something special. We cannot afford to pay attention to the wishes of individuals any longer. Only if we join forces we will overcome the challenges in front of us, the increasing imbalances between the poor and the rich, the menaces from the outside. Unite with us and the future will be ours."

Despite his apparently well-practised words his expression was strangely devoid of true emotion. With shaking hands Rose switched off the monitor, unable to bear the transmission any longer. This was her fault. She had persuaded them to help her, even bullied them. Without her they would still be sitting in the factory, or they would have gone home. They would be safe. And now she had destroyed Torrin.

She reached for the mug but it slid through her trembling hands and shattered on the grating, spilling its contents.

~o~o~o~

With a moan the man regained his consciousness. Images were flitting through his mind. An old man with a young girl, a man with curly brown hair and a ridiculously long multi-coloured scarf, a brown-haired woman whose picture flickered and was replaced by a smaller, blonde woman, fields of golden wheat stretching forever under the setting sun, a blonde girl swinging on a chain to save him, people in long robes, a blue box, a man wearing a velvet frock and a cravat, a burning city under an orange sky, sitting down with his family for supper after a day of hard work, the blonde girl again, this time wearing a black gown, taking his hand, and then just... nothingness.

The man clutched his head with his hands. Some of these images felt just _wrong,_ but he was certain that there were some which were only _supposed_ to feel wrong while others _were_ wrong. Although he didn't even know how he knew that, let alone which ones belonged to which group.

"Doctor?"

He slowly opened his eyes. A face swam into his view, the blurred features becoming clearer after a few seconds. The girl with the black gown, but this time she was wearing jeans and a blue top and her hair was held back by a messy braid. She looked as if she was dead on her feet.

"Where am I?" he croaked.

The girl reached for a cup and held it to his lips. The man took a sip. Water.

"Infirmary." At his confused look she elaborated, "In the TARDIS."

TARDIS. One word, two syllables, six letters, but the word evoked feelings of safety, of home, of _rightness_ and suddenly he became aware of a familiar hum and a likewise familiar presence at the back of his mind. Tentatively he reached for it and in his mind exploded a white ball of light. Like a purging fire it erased the forged memories and cleared his thoughts.

"Rose," the Doctor said in this moment of clarity and had time to recognize a look of relief on her face that was quickly changing into a bright smile before the white light tore down every single remaining barrier in his mind. He saw everything he had ever seen or done and then the wall that protected him from his memories of the Time War crumbled to dust and he screamed.

~o~o~o~

Rose had never been so relieved to hear her name before in her life but the feeling didn't last long. When the Doctor started screaming she stood next to him, frozen at first. Hesitantly she reached for him but she had only as much as touched his palm when she felt something like an electric shock. She hastily withdrew her hand.

After two long minutes that felt like an eternity the screaming eventually ceased.

"Doctor?" she asked tentatively.

"Out!" He said it calmly but his voice somehow conveyed so many suppressed emotions that he might as well have yelled at her.

"But..."

"Go. Just... go."

"Doctor..."

"Which letter in the word 'Go' did you not understand? Watch the telly, phone your useless boyfriend or whatever else you do when you've got too much time on your hands but for god's sake: Leave. Me. Alone." Now he _was_ yelling.

Rose blinked, turned around and left the infirmary with as much dignity as she could muster. As soon as she had reached the corridor she carefully closed the door although she felt more like banging it. Then the tears finally came and she broke into a run.

When she came back to her senses she was sitting on the floor in a corridor she had never seen before, leaning against the wall, her arms slung around her knees, the constant hum of the TARDIS strangely soothing in her mind. She wiped her eyes and stared at the opposite wall for a few more minutes without actually seeing anything, then she got up and hoped she'd find her way back to the more familiar areas of the ship. Ten minutes later she found herself outside the galley. She was dead to the bones but a cuppa couldn't hurt, could it? The process of making tea calmed her further and after a few minutes of pondering she prepared an additional mug for the Doctor and walked back to the infirmary. She knocked hesitantly.

"Yes?"

The Doctor sounded weary but more like himself than before. She opened the door.

"Tea?"

He nodded and she sat down on the chair she had occupied while she waited for him to wake up. An awkward silence settled in the room while they sipped their tea.

Eventually Rose couldn't bear the silence any longer and asked, "What happened? I mean, I read the report," she gestured at the folder on the examination table next to her, "and I know that they tried to brainwash you and that they planned to..." She didn't even want to think about the lobotomy. And she certainly wasn't brave enough to bring up the screaming so she continued, "...but I still don't know why. Unless... you don't want to talk about it."

After a short pause the Doctor began to speak. "I overheard two Verolians talking about missing people. I asked a few questions and thought I'd look into it. Then someone dragged me into a hover van and the next thing I know is that I was in a hospital and they tried to manipulate me into thinking I was a farmer with a wife and a daughter." He snorted. "They were good, I give them that. And they nearly broke my link with the TARDIS."

"You've got a link with the TARDIS? I mean, other than the translation thing."

"Yeah, I do. It helps me to pilot her and to communicate with her. And..." He hesitated and seemed unsure how much he should tell her. "I didn't even realize that she protected me during the Time War."

Rose looked at him and he continued, "When people suffer a trauma they sometimes can't remember what happened. It's a protective mechanism. We... Time Lords, I mean, we don't have that. I remember everything. At least that's what I thought. Turns out I was wrong. The TARDIS built barriers around the worst events of the Time War. The destruction of Florana, the fall of Arcadia..." His voice trailed off and he stared at the ceiling, lost in thoughts.

Hesitantly she reached for his hand, fearing he would yell at her again. "Doctor?"

"I knew they were destroyed, even knew what happened, but I couldn't remember the whole extent of it. And then I woke up here and I felt the TARDIS and I reached for her and then..." His voice was shaking.

"You remembered," Rose concluded his sentence. So he had yelled at her out of pain and grief, and not out of anger.

"Yeah. The people in the hospital..."

"SecPol," she supplied. "And I don't think it was a hospital."

"Whatever they did violated the link and the force that was necessary to restore it destroyed every wall the TARDIS had put there."

"But shouldn't you have known that there were parts you didn't remember?"

For a long time he was silent but eventually he began to speak again. "Even under the influence of their little indoctrination program, without knowing who I was, I could see the destruction, smell the smoke, hear the screams. And then for a split second, when Elora told me I – Micael – had a daughter, I suddenly knew who I really was. And I wanted to give in. Give my consent to the lobotomy. End it. Never see those images again. Not even the barriers in my mind were able to protect me completely from the horror of the final act of the Time War. The memories I had were so... I thought they were complete. Because that's what I see whenever I close my eyes, when I try to sleep: My planet burning, the screams and then – nothing."

Rose stayed silent, still holding his hand.

"That's the worst thing. The emptiness in my mind. I could feel them, wherever I was in the universe. Until the end... And... it was my fault. I made it happen."

She looked at him questioningly but didn't dare to ask.

"That's what I am, Rose. A murderer." His voice was devoid of emotion. "I killed my own race. Every single one of them. But not with a weapon of mass destruction, a blinding bolt of light and everything's gone. No, it's worse. Much worse. I condemned them for eternity. The Time Lords and the Daleks – time-locked, forever fighting, forever dying. I'm a monster, Rose. Your mum was right. You really shouldn't be anywhere near me."

He freed his hand from her grip and turned to face the wall. Another awkward silence settled in the room. Rose just sat there, frozen. This was a revelation she hadn't expected at all. But there had to be more to it. He simply wouldn't do something like that without a very good cause. He wouldn't. She mulled over everything he had told her or had let slip accidently, all the things he'd done. And all of that led to only one conclusion...

She touched his shoulder and he winced but she didn't withdraw her hand.

"Doctor, look at me."

Unwillingly he turned around again, a devastated look in his eyes.

"Doctor, I'm not going to tell you that I know how you feel. I don't know and I don't think I ever will. But answer me one question, just one: What would have been the alternative?"

After a long pause he answered, his eyes directed at a point over her left shoulder. "I don't know."

She had never heard anyone sounding more broken. And suddenly she was incredibly furious. At the scientists for trying to destroy his spirit, at him for letting it happen. She had seen him do amazing things, he had saved her life more times than she could figure out at the moment and the life of every human being twice in the short time they were travelling together, and that didn't even include the incident with the Gelth. But he somehow didn't see that.

"Liar!" she shouted.

"What?"

"You heard me! You're a bloody liar! You know exactly what would have happened. You're a Time Lord, for god's sake! You should be able to read the sodding timelines!" she yelled. "I'm just human but I'll tell you what would have happened. The Daleks would have won. And according to what you told me over a portion of chips," her voice slightly cracked at the word, "they'd have destroyed every sentient being in the universe. Including Ruffalo's people, the Forest of Cheem, the Moxx of Balhoun, hell, even the bitchy trampoline and the Slitheen." She took a deep breath and continued more calmly, "But by what you did you gave them a chance to do something useful with their life. Like you did with me. And don't you dare say that some of them were evil or that Ruffalo and Jade died anyway. That's not the point and you know that."

A ringing silence followed her words. She stared at the wall over the bed, blinking to hold back the tears.

His eyes had narrowed more and more during her speech and now his voice came with a low, angry growl. "Rose..."

"I... I don't know what... I'm sorry." She turned around and ran.

For a long moment the Doctor stared at her retreating back, then he tried to get up to follow her but he was still too weak. Every time one of his hearts stopped for longer than just a few seconds it took his body ages to get used its normal state again. With a resigned sigh he sank back on the bed, his ears still ringing with Rose's words.

How dare she? She was just a stupid ape, barely twenty years old, less than a fiftieth of his own age, if he was honest for once. He had been travelling the universe for more than nine hundred years now, give or take, and this human girl thought she knew everything about him. It had been a mistake to invite her.

Down in the sewer with the Nestene Consciousness he had thought it was finally over, that he would no longer have to endure the emptiness in his mind. But this girl that kept turning up like a bad penny had prolonged his ordeal with her attempt to save him. And somehow he had become dependent. He was like a drug addict. He _needed_ her, holding her hand, her smiles brightening his days. Because without her he would have steered the TARDIS into the nearest black hole long ago.

On Platform One he wanted her to have a glimpse at how it was to lose your planet, but now she thought she knew how he felt, just because she had seen Earth burn. He tried to ignore the nagging voice at the back of his mind which sounded annoyingly like her harpy of mother and tried to tell him that this wasn't at all what Rose had said. No, he ranted, it was worse. She had told him that he had done the right thing to condemn his people. Again the voice interfered. She had only asked a valid question. What would have happened if he hadn't done it?

For the first time since he had executed the final act of the Time War the Doctor allowed himself a closer look on those timelines whose possibility had ceased to exist because of his actions. Carefully he untangled them and followed each thread, every possible outcome. In the horrors he saw even his newly recovered memories of the Time War paled to insignificance. The most beautiful places throughout time and space – burnt to dust, overrun by Daleks. People he had met wiped out of existence, never having the chance to live their life just because their planet had been destroyed before they were even born. In more than one timeline the Daleks scavenged technology for trans-dimensional travel in the ruins of Gallifrey and conquered other universes. Every thread led to the same result. A nightmare come true.

Afterwards he simply floated in the maelstrom of destruction that presented the Time War in his mind. He didn't think, didn't do anything, he just _was_, and even that was nearly more than he could bear at the moment, after seeing everything that could have been and remembering everything that _had_ been. Much later he once more felt a presence in his mind. For the second time in a couple of hours he reached for it as if it was a lifeline, although he wasn't even sure if he really wanted to be saved.

When the Doctor finally came back to his senses he found himself in the infirmary, again. Slowly he got up. He would recover much better in his own bed. Step by step he followed the corridor to his room, every once in a while reaching for the wall to steady him. Eventually he reached his destination, closed the door behind him and leant against it, thoroughly exhausted. He wiped the sweat on his forehead with his sleeve and for the first time he noticed what he was wearing. Disgustedly he removed the hospital shirt and discovered the burn marks on his torso. The worst marks had clearly been treated, not expertly, but they were healing nicely. Must have been Rose, he decided. He had only as much as thought her name when realisation hit him.

She was right. There hadn't been any alternatives with a less destructive outcome. That didn't mean he felt better about destroying his planet, he didn't, not the slightest bit, and he never would, but at least he could acknowledge that it hadn't been in vain. The High Council and the other pompous Time Lords would disagree but he didn't want to live in a universe where the Daleks conquered E-space and annihilated Alzarius, where the Eye of Orion became a Dalek production facility and where the silent beauty of Woman Wept was covered by the remains of destroyed battle ships, a universe where Mozart never wrote his requiem, Michelangelo never carved the Pietà and people like Ian and Barbara never fell in love because the Daleks had destroyed the planet even before the pyramids were built. She was right.

With a thud he sat down on his bed and for the first time he was able to mourn Gallifrey.

Rose curled up on her bed, clutching her pillow, and cried. He was never going to let her stay, after all those things she had said to him. But she hadn't been able to stop herself. Everything had been a bit much. Discovering that he had been abducted, freeing him, finding out about Torrin and now his revelations... She didn't even count getting drugged by a couple of would-be-kidnappers and him yelling at her. She was certain that was simply because he wanted to sort through his newfound memories alone, without a mere stranger as witness. 'Cos that's what she was. She couldn't even begin to understand his life. Not that she was time-travelling with a nine hundred year old alien in a blue police public call box from the nineteen-fifties that was bigger on the inside, although she strongly suspected that he had rounded his age down a bit. That was the easy part. But that he was living with the knowledge that he had destroyed his planet, the people he loved... And she had had the nerve to tell him that he had done the right thing. He definitely would throw her out of the TARDIS as soon as possible.

After a long while she fell into a fitful sleep. Sometime later she awoke, her eyes glued with dried tears. She didn't know what had woken her but she felt something was wrong. She got up, still sleepy and walked to the infirmary on bare feet, only to find it empty. She was fairly certain that he was still too weak to leave the ship. Maybe he simply had gone to his room?

For a few seconds she stood in the infirmary and tried to make up her mind. Then she shrugged and went in search for his room. If he didn't want her to find it the TARDIS would simply hide it. After she had taken a few tentative steps in the corridor she noticed that the lights in front of her became brighter, as if the ship wanted to show her the way. A few minutes later she entered a corridor she had never noticed before. It led to a single wooden door with beautiful carvings that resembled the swirling letters she had seen on the monitors in the console room and on the sticky notes he littered the ship with. She laid her hand on the handle, hesitant to open the door. Then she shrugged. What could he do to her? Yell at her a bit more? Send her home? Not that she wanted to go home but she didn't think she deserved to stay after all she had said.

Determinedly she opened the door and revealed a plain room with a single bed in a corner. In the darkness that was only partially lit by the light that fell in through the doorframe and a small lamp on the nightstand she could make out a figure clad only in pyjama trousers that was crunched on the bed. She closed the door behind her and discovered the white hospital shirt on the floor. When she drew nearer she could see that his body was trembling. The burn marks she hadn't been able to treat stood out visibly against his skin. His face was distorted with fear and every once in a while he shook his head in denial. He looked as if he was having a nightmare. Should she wake him? Tentatively she reached for his cheek and touched it gently. That seemed to calm him marginally. After a few seconds she withdrew her hand and he moaned. This time she took his hand and he relaxed once more. That left her with two options. Waking him from the first not drug induced sleep he'd had for days – he certainly hadn't slept since Downing Street and that had been nearly a week ago – or stay here, with him. After a few seconds of pondering – and fretting over his reaction to finding her in his room – she settled for the second alternative and set down on the edge of his mattress, still holding his hand, softly stroking his palm.

When Rose awoke a few hours later she lay on his bed, his body spooned behind her, his arms around her waist. She hadn't even realised how tired she was, but apparently she had fallen asleep sometime ago. Although she didn't want to think too closely about how she had ended up in this position. Slowly she extricated herself from his arms, trying not to disturb him, got up and went to the galley to make breakfast. She was pouring hot water over the tea leaves in the tea pot when the Doctor said from behind, "Thank you."

She nearly dropped the kettle. "What for?"

"For... everything, really. For being you. For staying with me last night."

She turned around and saw him leaning against the door frame, dressed in his usual jeans and a jumper, but looking utterly vulnerable without his leather jacket. And he was actually blushing.

"You knew that?"

"I woke up... and you were sitting so close to the edge, drowsing. I... I didn't want you to fall."

"I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry for anything. I said 'Thank you', didn't I?" He made a step into the galley and swayed. He held himself upright by gripping the doorframe and Rose quickly put the kettle down, took his other arm and led him to a chair.

"For an alien with a brain the size of a planet you're really an idiot," she chided gently. "You should sleep."

He said nothing. Suddenly Rose understood. Nightmares. "You can't, can you?"

He nodded. "Would you..."

"Yeah." She tried to stifle a yawn but failed. "It's not as if I couldn't use the sleep myself. I'll be there in a few minutes."

~o~o~o~

The Doctor awoke after another few hours of undisturbed sleep with Rose lying next to him and finally felt almost like himself again. Most of the physical damage was gone and his subconscious had started the slow process of sorting through his recovered memories. It would take time to come to terms with his actions but it would get better.

Rose was right. It was better with two, more specifically, it was better with Rose. She drove his nightmares away and made him realize that there still was so much beauty out there he hadn't seen yet, so many things to discover in the whole of time and space. And if he for once managed not to land them in the middle of a disaster the next time they went to a supposedly peaceful planet she might even stay. At the moment he wasn't entirely sure that she would, especially not after he had yelled at her for, well, nothing. She had looked so hurt at the moment...

He had been wrong. He needed her, that was true, although not like a dependent needed the next dosage. No, he needed her because she complemented him. He had told her as much in Downing Street. He was no longer sure that he would choose the world over her safety. Because losing her would leave him as the broken shell he had been before and he didn't know if he could go back to that. If she hadn't told him to do what he had to do he most likely would have ignored Harriet. She had placed an amount of trust in him he certainly didn't deserve. He wondered if she would do that again, after everything he had done, after everything he had told her, or if she would want to go home as soon as possible.

As long as she was still here he was content to just lie next to her, watching her in her sleep. But the feeling of contentment only lasted until he heard her mumbling and moaning. He listened more closely but couldn't make out any words. He gently touched her at the shoulder.

"Rose? Rose, wake up, you're dreaming."

Eventually she awoke and turned around to face him. "Doctor, you're here." The relief in her voice was almost palpable and he realized only now that she had been crying in her sleep.

"Why..." He swallowed the rest of his question. Given the events of the last twenty-four hours she had a very good reason for thinking that he wouldn't be here. "What did you dream about?" he asked instead.

"Torrin. But he wasn't Torrin anymore. And then his face changed and he became you and I thought I'd never get you back..." she managed in between ragged sobs.

"Rose, look at me." He took her hands with his and she slowly raised her head to meet his eyes. "And now breathe."

After a few minutes she calmed down and he said, "Now tell me everything. From the beginning." Only now it occurred to him that he didn't even know how he had gotten out of the hospital and back to the TARDIS.

She wiped her eyes, took a deep breath and began, "You didn't show up at the meeting point and I thought you had brought the spare parts back to the TARDIS first..."

The longer she spoke the more his amazement grew. He had known she was special right from the beginning but this was far beyond all his expectations. She had gone into the lion's den and saved him. Not that he was convinced that he deserved it, after all the things he had done. And then he had made it even worse when he had finally woken up and the TARDIS had re-established the bond. He had sent her out of the room as if she was a disobedient child although he was fairly certain that she simply had wanted to know if he was still himself. Which was definitely a valid question after everything the people in the hospital had done.

"And then I looked at the website again and there he was. But he had changed. He wasn't himself anymore. The Torrin I met would never have said something like that." She blinked, trying to hold back the tears, and stared at her hands. "And it's my fault. I bullied them into helping me. It's as if I killed him."

"Rose, look at me."

Reluctantly she raised her eyes again.

"It is not your fault. You did what you thought was right and Torrin did the same. He decided to help you and he decided to go searching for his aunt. And SecPol did that to him. Not you."

Rose wasn't convinced. "But he wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for me. He said so, and Gavlin did as well. They would still be sitting in that factory or they would have gone home."

"Maybe," he allowed. "But what would have become of Sahra?"

"I don't know. And I don't even know if Halin and his aunt got away. What if they made them like Torrin?" She gulped when an even more horrible thought occurred to her. "Or they could be dead. I read the report, Doctor! It's not as if SecPol knew what they were doing with the chemicals and the surgery and all that stuff. They were willing to take every chance with you, and they thought you were valuable. Don't you think they would have done the same with people they cared a lot less about? And that would be my fault as well!"

She was almost frantic. The brave girl that had walked into the headquarters of an obscure government organisation for him when she should have done the right thing and pressed the button for Emergency Program One and left this godforsaken planet was nearly beyond reason.

"Rose, it's not your fault. None of it. It. Is. Not. Your. Fault." He emphasized every word. "SecPol did that to him. Not you." He looked at her solemnly, still holding her hands, his eyes never leaving hers.

For a long time they were silent, the Doctor's last words hanging in the room. Rose nodded slowly. She still was not entirely convinced but he had a point. And she was glad that the determination was back in his voice.

"And tell you what, Rose: We're not going to let this stand. We're going to make this right. For Torrin and for everyone else on this planet."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

When they awoke after another few hours of undisturbed sleep the Doctor quickly discovered that the TARDIS had locked the door of his bedroom. He rummaged through his cupboard in search for another sonic screwdriver but came up empty. Then he tried to sweet-talk them out of here but the ship was apparently ignoring him. And now he was pacing the room, every once in a while muttering something the TARDIS was too polite to translate. Rose was fairly certain what the ship was up to and agreed. As much as she wanted to help Torrin and his friends, doing it with a Doctor who still needed to steady himself at the wall every once in a while would do them no good whatsoever. He had said that most of the physical damage was gone but she could see that he still needed rest after what had happened, although as stubborn as he was confining him to his room wouldn't work. Another half an hour later the ship seemed to have reached the same conclusion. With a nearly inaudible click the door unlocked and the Doctor bolted from the room as if someone was threatening him to move in with her mother. Rose stayed behind, waited for him to come back and tried desperately not to collapse into laughter.

Five minutes later he reappeared, leant against the wall and muttered darkly, "She locked the main doors. And she's shut down all the instruments on the console."

Rose merely shrugged her shoulders, still trying to hold back a giggle. "As it seems that we aren't going anywhere at the moment I'm gonna take a shower."

Thirty minutes later she appeared in the console room, hair still wet, two mugs of tea in her hand, and found the Doctor buried under the grating.

"Something wrong?"

Somewhere in his rant she could make out something that sounded suspiciously like "sparks from the spacial overlap control circuit and the helmic regulator" and she ignored the rest. Suppressing a grin she stroked the console lightly and was greeted by a flicker of the control lamps. She placed the mug on the console and retreated to the library.

The game was repeated several times in the next two days, whenever the Doctor was bored. He would pace, the ship would produce sparks in various parts of the machinery and he would tinker. Whenever she witnessed that Rose quickly left the room and broke into fits of giggles. Why he didn't suspect anything was beyond her. Eventually the time ship had received the most thorough maintenance she'd had in a few centuries.

After breakfast on the third morning the Doctor entered the console room with his usual manic grin. "So, Rose Tyler, fancy overthrowing your first dictatorship? Not to forget the recapture of my leather jacket."

She snatched her hoodie from the railing. Apparently the TARDIS had decided that he was fully recovered and would let them out today. "I'm game."

He flipped a few switches, turned a dial, pressed a lever and with the familiar whooshing sound they dematerialized.

"Where're we going?"

"Into the lion's den."

"SecPol building?"

"Yep."

She grinned. "Fantastic."

He grinned back. "Exactly."

~o~o~o~

The TARDIS materialized in an empty storage room and when they entered the corridor they found themselves at a junction Rose recognized immediately.

"The room we found you is that way." She gestured to the left. "And I guess the holding cells are on the right because Gavlin, Mara and Sahra came from there. But we never found out where the offices are." She looked at him questioningly. "And what are we gonna do now?"

He grinned. "At first we ask for my leather jacket."

"We ask," she gave back, sounding incredulous.

"What's wrong with asking?" he replied, already heading in the direction of his room. Rose only shook her head.

A few minutes later they reached the observation room and entered. Their appearance surprised a technician whose astonishment quickly changed into fear when he recognized the man standing in front of him.

The Doctor stared at the equipment in disgust. "Really, from the twenty-ninth century? You might as well have used something from the nineteenth. The whole thing's just rubbish. If you want to brainwash someone properly you should really use more reliable technology." He'd known someone who did a better job by just looking at people. Then he turned towards the technician who was white as a sheet by now, smiled brightly and asked, "Do you happen to have seen a black leather jacket?"

"W-What?" The nameless assistant trembled violently, the papers in his hands shaking.

"I'm looking for my leather jacket," he repeated calmly. "Have you seen it?"

"Uh... No, sir."

"And is there someone who would know where it is?"

The technician trembled a bit more. "May... Maybe you could ask Dr Rayel. Second floor, third door on the right."

"Ah, the lovely Dr Rayel. I remember. Thanks." He turned to the door but looked back again. "One word of advice: If I were you I'd leave this building as soon as possible." Under a glare like this empires would crumble to dust and the worst megalomaniacs the universe had ever seen would hide under the nearest table. The technician never stood a chance. They had merely left the room when he shot out of the door and made a beeline towards the nearest exit.

~o~o~o~

Three minutes and one dead end later Rose discovered the door that led to the emergency stairs.

"Why did you tell the technician do get out of here?" she asked when he was about to storm through the door and head for the stairs.

"Remember the stuff I used to blow up your job?"

"Sure. Doesn't happen that often that a bloke waves me goodbye with explosives in his hand."

"There's a lot more in my jacket."

"Wait a minute. You're gonna blow the building up?"

"Puts them out of business, doesn't it? At least until we sort it out completely."

"Yeah, but what about the other people? Halin said that people had been brought here as prisoners. What if they're still in the building?"

He considered this for a moment and eyed her questioningly. "Do you think you can handle that by yourselves?"

After a few seconds she nodded.

"Okay, you get them out of here. I get the jacket. See you in the TARDIS."

She turned around, again nearly undetectably shaking her head, and vanished behind the next corner within a few seconds. He turned around with a grin and went upstairs. She clearly thought he was mad. Without bothering to knock he entered Dr Rayel's office and interrupted what looked suspiciously like a conspiratorial meeting, if he interpreted the shocked looks of the five persons gathered around the small table and their frantic attempts to hide papers and to look harmless correctly. He closed the door and leant against it, his arms crossed. Although it would have looked much more impressive with the leather jacket, he grumbled inwardly and glared at them.

Dr Rayel got up and took a few tentative steps away from the table in his direction, her face matching the colour of her lab coat. "M-Micael." She stumbled only slightly over the name but it was there. Good.

He grinned mirthlessly. "Let's get over with this charade. I'm not Micael, this is not a hospital and if you are a really doctor you don't deserve the title. And if I were you I would answer my questions because in that case you might have the chance to get out of the building before I blow it up."

"You're insane," said one of the scientists, apparently feeling a bit safer where he was now, in the outmost corner of the room, surrounded by his colleagues.

"Yep." He smirked but quickly went back to glaring again.

Dr Rayel held out her hand as if she wanted to calm down a skittish horse. "Micael, whatever it is, we can find a solution."

He nearly laughed outright at that but he somehow managed to keep his face straight. "Well, if you're offering: For starters I'd like my leather jacket back."

"It's not here." There was hesitation in her voice. A lot. They must have found the extras. But with a bit of luck the bits and pieces he had stored in the more obvious pockets and the whole "bigger on the inside" thing would have distracted them from the one with the really important stuff. He could see the wheels in her head turning and gestured at the communicator at her desk. Walnut, he noted. Not your everyday office furniture. "Then call whoever has it and tell them to bring it to our office."

She made two hesitant steps in the direction of her desk, then turned again and began, "Micael..."

"Dr Rayel," he said in a tone he would use to explain to a five-year-old with a temper tantrum why he wasn't going to let him play with the TARDIS controls. "I'll only repeat this once: Stop playing games, call them and tell them to bring my coat here. You're a clever woman, I'm sure you can come up with a believable explanation." Under his glare she blanched even more, reached for the communicator and made the call.

"And now we wait." He crossed his legs at the ankles, looking for all the world as if nothing could ever bother him. "And in the meantime you're gonna explain to me why you're doing what you're doing. In detail, but in as few words as possible. Impending explosion, remember?" Scientists. If he gave them the opportunity to ramble he would still be standing here next week. And one really couldn't say he was a patient person this time 'round. He was only good at pretending, at least most of the time. When he saw the group shooting nervous glances at each other he was already certain he wouldn't like the answer, but the next few words really made him want to throttle someone, preferably the tall scientist who'd had the nerve to say,

"But we've only been following orders."

The Doctor glowered at him. "If you ever only as much as think those words too loudly in my direction again I'll drag your sorry backside into the cosy brig of my frankly magnificent ship, throw the key out of the nearest airlock and you'll have the ineffable pleasure to listen to the worst boy group songs in the entire universe until I run out of tracks. And believe me, that's gonna take some time. Some of my predecessors really had terrible taste in music."

The scientist, who according to the glances the others gave him had been the one in charge, looked him in the eyes, took whatever he saw there as a cue not to be ignored and started talking.

~o~o~o~

Rose quickly made her way back to the junction next to the storage room with the TARDIS and then followed the corridor down the way Gavlin, Mara and Sahra had come. Two minutes later she reached another junction. As it, like the previous ones, didn't have any signs labelling the corridors "To the prison cells" or "To the torture chamber" or "To the evil megalomaniac's office" she took a chance and turned left, deeper into the building. This seemed to be the right decision because after a few minutes she saw a guard standing thirty metres down the corridor, facing in the opposite direction. She quickly ducked into the next room. She needed a plan. Or at least something to knock the guard out. Unfortunately she found herself in a huge changing room, abandoned long ago, if all the cobwebs in the corners were an indication. She climbed on the bench in the middle of the first two rows of lockers. In school people had always stored stuff that didn't fit the lockers on top and forgot it there, and she hoped that people here were no different. Apparently that sort of behaviour was fairly universal, she thought when she discovered something that looked like a futuristic cricket bat on the far left of the third row. She quickly retrieved it and left the room.

Fortunately the guard seemed to be blind, deaf and totally ignorant of what was going on behind his back. Although it certainly helped that his attention was distracted by a voice that sounded suspiciously like Halin asking for a glass of water. Judging from the fact that the guard didn't react in the slightest she guessed it was unlikely he would get it. Halin resorted to begging.

"Please, it's for my aunt. She's getting weaker by the hour. She hasn't had anything to eat or drink for two days and she's worried sick about my cousin."

She tiptoed nearer. God, they didn't even know that Sahra was safe. She was almost in striking distance when the guard suddenly moved and took two steps nearer to the cell.

"You guys think you're so clever. You think you can come in here, cause a lot of trouble and not suffer the consequences? You only get what you deserve, mate."

"But we haven't done anything!" Halin sounded as if he had repeated that sentence hundreds of times in the last few days, the anger in his voice mostly drowned out by desperation. But at least he was still himself.

Rose decided that she didn't want to know the guard's answer, jumped the last few steps, raised her arm and hit him for six. He broke into his knees and collapsed on the floor.

"Rose!"

"Hello!" She grinned, already searching the guard for keys.

"He doesn't have them," Halin said.

Rose cursed at hearing that, using one of the Doctor's more colourful swears. Halin blanched but quickly recovered enough to ask, "But how did you get here? What about Gavlin, Mara and Torrin? And Sahra?"

She searched her pockets, while she said, "Gavlin, Mara and Sahra got away. They dropped the Doctor and me at our ship and went to a person they trusted." With a suppressed crow she discovered the spare sonic in her jeans. She hadn't really paid attention to where she put it after she had the Doctor back in the TARDIS, and just by chance she was wearing the same jeans today.

"Rose? What about Torrin?"

She had hoped to avoid the answer, hell, she had hoped she wouldn't find anybody down here. She kept her eyes on the lock, pointed the sonic, pressed the button, prayed for another miracle and said, the soft click nearly drowning out her voice, "They got him."

Halin pushed the door open, revealing a pale woman lying on a mattress on the floor. "They what?" He glared at her.

Rose winced. "I don't know what happened. We found the Doctor, and then Torrin said he had seen his aunt and would go looking for her. And the next time I saw him on CCTV he was... changed."

"And you just left him?" The accusation hurt, especially because she had tried to convince herself that she had done the right thing during the last two days. And failed most of the time.

"I had no choice. The Doctor was in a pretty bad condition. I didn't want him to go but..." She paused and finally found the courage to look him into the eyes. "We would have come sooner, but the Doctor was too weak." She walked into the cell and knelt next to the woman on the mattress, taking her hand. She seemed barely aware of her surroundings. "We have to get her out of here. Do you think she can walk?"

"No, she's too exhausted. But I can carry her if it's not far."

"Are there others? Other prisoners, I mean?"

"No. No, I don't think so."

"Do you _know_ or do you just think so?" The urgency in her voice made him look at her questioningly. "The Doctor is going to blow up the building. We have to get everyone out first," she explained.

"No, there aren't any others." At her glance he added, "I'm sure, Rose. Really. The sentry said something like that they would shut this base down and that we were the last people to guard. He was quite in a mood that he had to stay just because of us."

She nodded. "Okay, let's go." She carefully avoided thinking about the fate of the unconscious guard they left behind.

Halin picked up his aunt's limp body and they slowly made their way back. When Rose could already see the junction leading to the exit she saw him sway under his burden and quickly jumped to steady his aunt. Halin was much more exhausted himself than he'd let on. They'd never make it into safety if she let them go on their own. She made a decision.

~o~o~o~

"So let me see if I got this straight," the Doctor summarized with a strain in his voice that betrayed how much he felt like shouting. "Your orders to systematically brainwash people came from your president's wife, a person who isn't even a member of your government, and you didn't question them once?"

"Uh, no. Should we have?" a woman, who looked as if she was barely older than Rose, asked.

That did it. "Where do they find people like you? Put up a big sign saying 'Everyone willing to leave their ability to think at the entrance please join here'? Oh, but that would be assuming that you think at all, of course. And after all I've heard I really doubt that."

His tirade was interrupted by a hesitant knock at the door. He opened and stared at a nervous looking man who held his leather jacket in shaking hands. Must have heard the yelling, the Doctor decided.

"Thanks," he said politely, took the garment out of the clerk's hands and closed the door in his face. Then he opened the door again and added, "And I strongly suggest you leave this building within the next ten minutes." He shut the door once more, donned the coat and turned to face his audience again, this time leaning against the wall next to the door.

"Right, where were we? Oh, yes! You were trying to explain why you accepted orders from the president's wife."

"But she is the president's wife," Dr Rayel said in a tone, as if that explained everything. The Doctor somehow doubted that. What he knew about Verolis, its culture and its political system – and he'd had a lot of time to read up on it in the last two days, whenever he hadn't been repairing the TARDIS or recovering, no thanks to that lot – indicated that the president's wife normally didn't have any political influence. Something was very, very wrong here. This wasn't a couple of mad scientists or a mad politician and a couple of naive scientists – which was worse most of the time. Here was something else going on. And he wouldn't find it out if he kept questioning the five people who sounded as if they had been brainwashed themselves.

He sighed exasperatedly and gestured at the door. "Run for your life. As quick as you can. Then you might have a chance to get out of here in time. Oh, and next time do us all a favour and _think_ before you follow orders."

And then he sighed again when a huddle formed at the door because everyone wanted to get out first. Unsurprisingly the idiot in charge won and vanished behind the nearest corner. When the coast was clear the Doctor left the room and turned right, following the corridor deeper into the building. He broke the glass of the nearest fire alarm, a bell sounded and a computerized voice ordered the staff to evacuate the building. Ignoring the noise and the occasional staff member running in the opposite direction he searched his jacket for the sonic and the explosives. The sonic screwdriver was exactly where he'd left it but the explosives were gone. He swore under his breath until he detected a few canisters of Nitro-9 in an inner pocket. Wondering how they'd gotten there he placed them carefully on strategically chosen points in the building and set the time fuses. He hoped that they'd still work. Nitro-9 wasn't the most reliable, let alone stable, explosive after all.

Five minutes after the first shriek of the fire alarm the Doctor dashed into the storage room and entered the TARDIS. He began to talk before he had even closed the door. "Right. The building is going to blow up in about ten minutes. Give or take. That should give everyone the opportunity to get out. Although the time fuses were never really accurate." He was already pushing buttons on the console when he noticed Halin slumped on the floor next to Rose and the lifeless form of a woman lying on the grating. He recognized her instantly.

"Elora." He turned around to face Rose and Halin with a somewhat stormy expression. "What's going on here?"

"They were the only prisoners left," Rose explained, sounding only somewhat apologetic. "And Halin was too weak to carry her. I just couldn't leave them."

Before the Doctor could say anything Halin cut in, "My aunt told me what happened. And from what she said, and from what Rose told us, I figured it was you she was talking about. They used her to break you. She didn't want to, but they threatened to... to change her daughter, my cousin Sahra. My aunt was an actress until that was prohibited under the new government. She was one of the very few who protested, and that made her a target. When she and Sahra came to Meurlin last week they were captured and interrogated. What they'd said they would do to them... It was terrible..."

The Doctor nodded solemnly. "Let's get her into the infirmary. From what I can tell she's mostly dehydrated. Nothing that can't be fixed."

He flipped the last few levers and sent them into the Vortex, then he scooped Elora up into his arms and carried her deeper into the ship while Rose supported Halin. When the two Verolians were settled in the infirmary with IV drips to counter the effects of the dehydration the Doctor left the room and gestured at Rose to follow him.

"I'm sorry," she said as soon the door had closed behind them, before he'd even had the chance to open his mouth.

Following the corridor towards the console room he said, "Nah, it was the right thing to do, to bring them here. She only did what she did to protect her family. That's what most people would have done. But that's not what I wanted to talk about. The whole conversation with the scientists was... weird. Mind you, I didn't expect them to confess everything without a bit of convincing..." make that _threatening_, he thought and added, "but everything they said came down to 'orders from the president's wife."

Rose looked at him, a thoughtful expression on her face. "But she holds more of a representative function, much like the Prime Minister's wife at home, doesn't she?" When he stared at her she said, "What? I read up on the planet when I still hoped you'd just gotten excited over some spare parts."

"Oi! I never get _excited_ over spare parts. I buy them because they're essential for this ship to function properly."

"Does 'function properly' include taking us to Cardiff instead of Naples or being one year late when you tried to bring me home after twelve hours?"

"I'm never gonna live that one down, am I?"

"Nope." She grinned and continued, more seriously, "It's strange, you know. She's a person of public interest, isn't she? But there was this article on a gala the president attended and it barely mentioned that she was there, too. Normally there should have been a whole paragraph about what she was wearing, hair style, shoes, you name it."

He stared at her.

"Well, your ship provided the data on Verolis. Ask her how the gossip got in there. Anyway, the other reports were the same. Huge paragraphs on other celebrities but next to nothing on her. There was even more information on what the president was wearing on several occasions. As if people didn't even notice her."

"That's it!" he exclaimed. "Rose, you're brilliant!" He hugged her and released her again to set new coordinates while he explained, "Must be someone using a perception filter. And there are not many species around who use them _and_ are good at mind control. Especially not in this part of the Andromeda Galaxy."

"And what are we gonna do now?"

"Find out what they're up to."

"Let me guess: We ask?"

"Yep."

"You're mad!"

"Yep."

~o~o~o~

Within minutes they reached their destination and the Doctor materialized the TARDIS inside the presidential palace.

"Do you think you could find out what happened to Torrin?" Rose asked.

"That really bothers you, does it?"

"Yeah. And I think Halin would like to know as well."

"Okay."

They left the ship and found themselves in a narrow corridor that looked as if it belonged to the service area of the palace. The Doctor stopped the first servant he saw.

"Sorry, we got lost. Never been in this part of the palace before. We're here for maintenance of the heating system in this wing." He raised his eyebrows meaningfully. "_She_ complained that it was cold in her room. The system itself is fine, must have something to do with her radiators."

The staff member looked at them askance. "May I see your credentials? And the order, of course."

The Doctor produced his psychic paper. "See?"

"Seems to be okay," the servant acknowledged. "Her room is down this corridor, second left, fifth door on the right. Knock and enter only if _she_ tells you to."

The Doctor nodded and quickly followed the instructions, Rose hard on his heels. "What's that with the meaningful eyebrow waggle and all that '_she'_?"

"First, no, second rule of time travel: Just walk around as if you own the place. Or at least pretend you know what you're doing. I just let him assume."

"And that works?"

"Surprisingly well." He grinned.

When they reached their destination the Doctor didn't bother knocking once again. He opened the door and they discovered a beautiful woman sitting in front of a vanity. She turned around and stood up in one fluid movement, then she simply stared at them, her face expressionless.

The Doctor glanced at the readings of his sonic and smirked. "As I thought. A Gomlib." He adjusted the setting. A quick buzz and the woman in front of them flickered and was replaced by a vaguely humanoid being with four arms. "Ah, that's better. Always nice to see who you're really talking to. So, whatever you're planning: It ends. Here and now."

The alien drew a few steps closer. "And who are you that you can make such demands?"

"Someone you don't want to mess with."

"Oh, really." The alien paused and continued in a slightly different tone, her eyes locked on the Doctor's, "You will obey me!"

Something that felt like the equivalent of an annoyed wasp buzzing in front of a closed window attacked the barriers in his mind. He grinned. "Is that all you've got up your sleeve? Your telepathic skills are a bit rusty, don't you think?" Then he became more serious again. "By the way, the lovely building where your minions performed their little mind games should have blown up by now. Consider that my way of expressing how much I dislike your methods. Which reminds me: What happened to the boy the SecPol scientists presented at that demonstration?"

The alien had looked shocked when he told her about the fate of the SecPol building, but she had managed to get herself back under control again quickly. Now she snorted dismissively. "As it turned out the technology still needs a bit of fine-tuning. After a few days he showed massive damage in the neocortex and the cerebellum. He was a failure." Her tone left them in no doubt about what had happened to him.

Out of the corner of his eye the Doctor saw Rose wince. He took her hand and squeezed it, not daring to take his eyes of the Gomlib. He decided that he'd heard enough.

"As I said. This ends now."

"And how are you going to stop me?"

"Shadow proclamation ring a bell? They should be here in about..." he glanced at his watch, "fifteen minutes."

He never saw it coming. One second the alien was standing in front of him, the next she was lying on the floor and Rose was kneeling on her back, trying to hold her down.

Quickly he searched his jacket for some restraints. Eventually he discovered a couple of cable straps the scientists obviously hadn't found worth removing. When he had secured its various limbs he looked at his companion questioningly.

She grinned. "Simple. I tripped her up."

~o~o~o~

Twenty minutes later they handed a neatly tied Gomlib over to the two agents the Shadow Proclamation had sent to Verolis. As it turned out the alien had been charged with the same crime on at least half a dozen planets, but had managed to escape her pursuers until now. Then they returned to the TARDIS and the Doctor broke the news about Torrin to Elora and Halin. Rose tried to apologize again but Elora stopped her.

"Rose, you have to believe that this isn't your fault. You only tried to help. And you did. Without you we would still be imprisoned, or worse, dead. And without you they would never have stopped. Torrin went in search for me and that was his decision, not yours, despite what you may think. He did what he thought was right and we will honour him for that."

Rose looked her in the eyes. "Thank you."

"Doctor..." Elora began again.

This time it was he who stopped her. "You don't have to say anything. Halin told us what would have happened if you hadn't followed their orders. And I can't say that I blame you. Besides," he grinned suddenly, "no permanent damage's been done. It takes more than a few electroshocks and a little bit of indoctrination to break me." Only Rose noticed that the smile didn't reach his eyes. "So, now let me have a look at you."

After a short examination he declared them as rehydrated. "Anywhere I can take you? It would be better for you to go somewhere safe. The alien impersonating the president's wife most likely brainwashed every member of the government. With the Gomlib removed the regime is likely to break down in the next few days and Meurlin will be in chaos."

After a few seconds of consideration she nodded. "I know someone where we can stay for a few days."

~o~o~o~

Eventually they closed the TARDIS doors behind them and Rose collapsed on the jump seat while the Doctor sent the TARDIS into the Vortex.

After a few minutes she noticed something poking into her hip and found the spare sonic screwdriver in her jeans pocket. She eyed it for a second. "Doctor?"

"Yes, Rose?" He turned around to face her.

"Why was there a sonic screwdriver in the galley?"

"Oh, that," he said casually.

"Doctor?" Rose prompted.

"Rose, that I don't do domestic doesn't mean I can't cook." He paused.

"That's good to know because it's your turn next week." She narrowed her eyes. "But don't try to change the topic."

"But I didn't," he protested. "That's the only sonic screwdriver with a crème brulée setting in existence." He grinned. "Want me to prove it?"

*fin*


End file.
